Poetry is only a mere fifteen lines or so in length, yet it is one of

the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things. (Matthew Arnold)

As much joy it has brought to many readers, there are many more who are unaware of this hidden secret. It is my honour {pleasure} to unlock the door and share the many pleasures of poetry in Eloquent, Beautiful & Divine. Containing passionate emotions of the Elizabethan period and concluding with the alluring Cavalier Poets, I believe my anthology contains poems of the most important period. They will hopefully craft striking images for my readers through the writer’s use of various poetic techniques.

In the opening section of my compilation- Everlasting Elizabethan, I have selected the finest poets of that era such as Even Such is Time by Sir Walter Raleigh; extracts from “The Faerie Queene” by Edmund Spenser; With How Sad Steps, O Moon by Sir Philip Sidney; and Michael Dayton’s The Ballad of Agincourt. Their popularity (still to the present day) is due to the poets’ talent of expression stimulated by the lively world of music and excitement of the Renaissance. Even a shoemaker had to be able “to sound the trumpets or play upon the flute, and bear his part in a three-man’s song, and readily reckon his tools with rhyme”.

The sensuous theme of innocent love and beauty flowed out of every pen during the period, but none so memorable then the poems of William Shakespeare. My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun which I believe is the most represented poem of that time, has been included in the first section of my anthology.

This is a reflective sonnet dedicated to the mysterious “Dark Lady”. Whilst poets in this period focused on physical beauty and deportment, Shakespeare believed that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

Throughout the poem, he describes his love as having eyes “nothing like the sun”; lips not red enough; and cheeks not rosy enough. Every bit of her features doesn’t represent the “ideal” lady of that time. If the final couplet were neglected, the reader would think that Shakespeare had an immense hatred towards his mistress:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

This sonnet of three quatrains and his beliefs in the final couplet was Shakespeare’s typical structure. Written with an ironic tone and simple diction, visual images are created effectively through the use of similes and onomatopoeia. The combination of iambic pentameter rhythm and lively rhyming pattern makes it a lovely piece to listen to or read aloud thus conveying the meaning even more effectively.

Eloquent, Beautiful & Divine has four more of Shakespeare’s sonnets as well as works by other Elizabethan poets which all show that poetry is the most effective way of expression.

Beyond the streets of 17th century England and behind the palace walls of the queen, were a young group of men known as The Cavalier Poets. Although they too were writers during the Elizabethan period, they became renowned for their wit and elegance of style and for their direct approach to the themes of love, beauty and honour. So I decided to separate Charismatic Cavaliers from the previous section. Some of these great poets were Ben Jonson with Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Richard Lovelace with The Althea and John Suckling’s The Way of the World.

Perhaps there is no better representative of the era than Robert Herrick’s Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May. In this satire, he talks about virgins making the most of time. He expresses how girls are wanted during their youth and because of their physical ability to bear sons. However, if they wait too late to get married, then their opportunity may bypass:

For, having lost but once your prime, You may forever tarry.

The message is successfully conveyed by Herrick’s simple and connotative words throughout the four quatrains. His words of warning are expressed as similes and personification in the first two stanzas followed by the same message written frankly in the last two. The poet’s construction of slow iambic tetrameter and trimeters further reinforces the seriousness of the poem. Like all Cavalier verses, it was “as gay, smooth and polished as its courtly surroundings.”

Every poem is a piece of art. Each one is specially carved to perfection so the reader can enjoy such elegant expression, visualize the vivid images and relate to or understand the underlying message. And what is better than the poems from the 17th century? Aiming this anthology to any poetry lover, I would especially recommend it to a teenage and young adult audience. Often today, many youths dislike to comprehend 17th century literature, but given a little time and effort, one will realise that poetry is eloquent, beautiful and divine.